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I know the topic of HLA noise comes up a lot, just wanted to throw in my 2 cents worth.

Got a 94 clubman with noisy HLA's, service history has the owner complaining from 35000kms, now done 200,000kms and from ongoing history seems no one could cure it.

I (hesitantly) did the auto trans and kero flush thing and it seemed better, then I threw in some Nulon lifter free and 5-30 castrol synthetic and fixed within 100kms, very happy. Would recommend the lifter free before an engine flush next time.

The Nulon product reckons it does not effect oil viscosity (Im no chemical engineer, but I dont believe it) and DO NOT rip the lid off and take a big whiff of it like some idiot did (almost woke up on the floor!)

1000kms later I am absolutely stoked with the results, rattles for 1 second on start up then absolutely whisper quiet.

Tks for sharing - it's always useful to hear about different fixes!

94 clubman perth wrote: DO NOT rip the lid off and take a big whiff of it like some idiot did (almost woke up on the floor!)

Tempting ain't it?

Instead of starting a new topic I thought I'll share it here;
I've been using Lucas Oil Stabiliser on both cars for over 6 months now (have used it in the past as well) and I've had zero HLA noise. Not even one "tick-a-ticka"

I've been using Castrol Edge 5w-30 on MX-5 and Magnatec on Festiva, changed every 6 months/2,500km on MX-5 (that's all the km I do in that time), changed every year/10,000km on Festiva.

I also throw in a bottle of Wynn's into the mix. Lucas product cost around $20, Wynn's around $10.
Not sure what the Wynn's product is called as they seem to have a name change yearly.

I fitted a "RaceCam" under the front bumper of my Clubman for Trackdays. And after reviewing the videos taken from today's Wakefield Trackday....the clatter of the tappets can clearly be heard from the video while travelling @ low speed along the pit lane and garages.

So I'll be doing the Nulon treatment shortly and hope it gives me as good a result as what you guys have posted here.

94 clubman perth wrote:1000kms later I am absolutely stoked with the results

Me too! My '94 has 234,000km on it and I was getting some very loud lifter noise when the engine was cold. Sometimes it would take up to 5 minutes to go away. Not even fresh oil cured it. I put the Nulon Lifter Free in around 1,000km ago and lifter noise is virtually non-existent now. Maybe it's just my imagination, but the engine feels and sounds a bit smoother at high revs too.

I have been using lifter free every for the past few years, every time I service the car. It works very well.

I find I get the best results from doing the following every service.

1. With car warm I empty a bottle of Nulon engine flush into the system and let it idle for about 10min.
2. Remove intake piping clean air filter, and then run a can of the Subaru engine cleaner through the intake, and let it sit while I do steps 3 + 4 + 5.
3. When the car has cooled down a little I drain out the old oil, remove the old filter. Then replace the sump plug, and new filter.
4. Replace oil, people will have different preferences but I find Nulon 10w-40 Fast flowing fully synth gives me the best results.
5. Empty 2/3 of a bottle of Lifter Free into the new oil.
6. Replace intake piping and air filter, then start the car and let it cleanout the Subaru cleaner.

I find doing these things every service keeps my engine running spot on, and with no HLA noise.

the nulon stuff works well, just used it thanks to this thread

I just did the first oil change on my na8 and put the Nulon lifter free in. I added the whole bottle on top of the full quota of oil. Was this too much?

From Nulon website:
'Directions for Use
After changing engine oil and filter, add 1 [300ml] bottle per 5 litres of engine oil capacity.'
http://www.nulon.com.au/products/Engine ... d_Tune-Up/

3.8L 5.0L close enough haha

I always add the full bottle of nulon on any car I've had with HLA noise.
Difference is that I start my car (with upper engine cleaner) before I replace my oil/filter.


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I've switched to a Nulon Diesel engine oil for my daily car & will be using the same on the weekender car next change. It's a mixed fleet oil so also suitable for petrol engines. Being a diesel oil it's meant to have better cleaning detergents to deal with diesel combustion. I'm going to assume since it's also from Nulon that it'll probably have the same additives as what's found in the Lifter Free product.

going to give this a try thanks

My NA8 with 235,000km has always had the noisy ticking on start up for the past 3 years, but I recently noticed the lifter noise lingering on much later and becoming almost constant.

So I treated the car to a Nulon engine flush, fresh oil and then Nulon Lifter Free and it's been purring quietly ever since. I highly recommend it!